CN116581010A - Long-life cathode structure for electric propulsion - Google Patents
Long-life cathode structure for electric propulsion Download PDFInfo
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- CN116581010A CN116581010A CN202310742160.2A CN202310742160A CN116581010A CN 116581010 A CN116581010 A CN 116581010A CN 202310742160 A CN202310742160 A CN 202310742160A CN 116581010 A CN116581010 A CN 116581010A
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- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 111
- 239000010406 cathode material Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 101
- 238000002844 melting Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 34
- 230000008018 melting Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 34
- 238000010438 heat treatment Methods 0.000 claims description 35
- 239000007921 spray Substances 0.000 claims description 28
- 239000000203 mixture Substances 0.000 claims description 8
- 239000000919 ceramic Substances 0.000 claims description 6
- 230000005684 electric field Effects 0.000 claims description 5
- 238000002679 ablation Methods 0.000 claims description 4
- 239000003380 propellant Substances 0.000 claims description 4
- 238000004090 dissolution Methods 0.000 claims description 3
- 238000009413 insulation Methods 0.000 claims description 2
- 239000011148 porous material Substances 0.000 claims 1
- 238000004904 shortening Methods 0.000 claims 1
- 210000002381 plasma Anatomy 0.000 description 9
- 239000007788 liquid Substances 0.000 description 8
- 230000001133 acceleration Effects 0.000 description 6
- 150000002500 ions Chemical class 0.000 description 5
- 238000005516 engineering process Methods 0.000 description 4
- 239000000110 cooling liquid Substances 0.000 description 3
- 239000007769 metal material Substances 0.000 description 3
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000009471 action Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000005260 corrosion Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000007797 corrosion Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000013461 design Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000011161 development Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 2
- 239000000126 substance Substances 0.000 description 2
- 238000003466 welding Methods 0.000 description 2
- RYGMFSIKBFXOCR-UHFFFAOYSA-N Copper Chemical compound [Cu] RYGMFSIKBFXOCR-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 239000000956 alloy Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000009286 beneficial effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000008859 change Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000000498 cooling water Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229910052802 copper Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000010949 copper Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000008878 coupling Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000010168 coupling process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000005859 coupling reaction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000003247 decreasing effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000001419 dependent effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000005686 electrostatic field Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000007774 longterm Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000007246 mechanism Effects 0.000 description 1
- 229910052751 metal Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000002245 particle Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000002035 prolonged effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000012827 research and development Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000002441 reversible effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000002904 solvent Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000012546 transfer Methods 0.000 description 1
- WFKWXMTUELFFGS-UHFFFAOYSA-N tungsten Chemical compound [W] WFKWXMTUELFFGS-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 229910052721 tungsten Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000010937 tungsten Substances 0.000 description 1
Classifications
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
- H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
- H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
- H01J37/32431—Constructional details of the reactor
- H01J37/32532—Electrodes
- H01J37/3255—Material
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- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- F03H—PRODUCING A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- F03H1/00—Using plasma to produce a reactive propulsive thrust
- F03H1/0006—Details applicable to different types of plasma thrusters
-
- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- F03H—PRODUCING A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- F03H1/00—Using plasma to produce a reactive propulsive thrust
- F03H1/0087—Electro-dynamic thrusters, e.g. pulsed plasma thrusters
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
- H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
- H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
- H01J37/32431—Constructional details of the reactor
- H01J37/32532—Electrodes
- H01J37/32541—Shape
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
- H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
- H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
- H01J37/32431—Constructional details of the reactor
- H01J37/32532—Electrodes
- H01J37/32568—Relative arrangement or disposition of electrodes; moving means
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
- H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
- H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
- H01J37/32431—Constructional details of the reactor
- H01J37/32532—Electrodes
- H01J37/32577—Electrical connecting means
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y02E30/00—Energy generation of nuclear origin
- Y02E30/10—Nuclear fusion reactors
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
- Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
- Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Plasma Technology (AREA)
Abstract
The invention discloses a long-life cathode structure for electric propulsion, which can doubly prolong the service life of a cathode and splice the cathode into a multi-section structure through materials with different melting points. The multi-section structure is composed of a first cathode material component and a second cathode connection component, wherein the first cathode material component is composed of cathode materials of each section, and the second cathode connection component is composed of different materials. The invention can prolong the service life of the cathode by several times under the condition of using the original material and the original propulsion system.
Description
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the field of space electric propulsion, and particularly relates to a long-life cathode structure for electric propulsion.
Background
With the development of aerospace technology and space exploration, the traditional chemical propeller cannot meet the requirements of people on deep space exploration, and the application requirements of various high-performance platforms on electric propulsion technology are urgent. The electric propulsion has the characteristics of low quality, high specific impulse, repeatable start and the like compared with the chemical propulsion, and the ion propulsion is higher than the specific impulse of other types of electric propulsion, so that the electric propulsion is an electric propulsion which is developed mainly in various countries. Performance, lifetime and reliability of ion thrusters are an important part of the design of high quality aircraft and their loads.
The traditional ion propeller has higher than impulse, but has small thrust, and still cannot meet the requirement. The principle of the magnetic plasma thruster is that plasma generated by high-temperature arc ionization working medium accelerates under the combined action of a magnetic field and an electric field to generate reverse thrust to the thruster, and the acceleration mechanism relates to four mutually coupled acceleration modes of self field acceleration, vortex acceleration, hall acceleration and pneumatic acceleration, which are known as the strongest electric propulsion technology by NASA. The method has many advantages in the aspects of large spacecraft orbit transfer, manned lunar-boarding, deep space exploration and the like.
The ion propulsion is generally carried out by accelerating and ejecting ions generated by ionization of working medium under the action of electrostatic field to generate thrust. The additional magnetic field is provided by the superconducting magnet instead of the conventional copper coil, so that not only can the higher magnetic field intensity be obtained, the size of the whole part is greatly reduced, but also the uniform magnetic field of the superconducting magnet enables the cathode plasma discharge to be more uniform.
In an electric propulsion system, a long-term trouble is that the service life of a researcher is the service life of a cathode, and the service life of the cathode is directly influenced, because high-temperature plasmas are accumulated at the front section of the cathode when the propeller works, the cathode material is seriously burned, the cathode material is almost dissolved by long-time work, and the only means for improving the service life is to develop a novel material at present.
The existing cathode is of a single structure and can only be used once, and in consideration of the performances such as air tightness and the like, parts are difficult to replace in the space operation process, so that the service life of the cathode is directly dependent on the properties of materials, and researchers do not break new materials in order to solve the service life problem of the cathode. But the new material has long development period and high cost.
In order to further extend the lifetime in the event that the material properties are extremely developed, it is necessary to design a novel cathode structure from the structural point of view.
Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the problem that the service life of the existing cathode is difficult to further improve, the invention provides a long-life cathode structure for electric propulsion, and the service life of the cathode is further prolonged through structural change under the condition that cathode materials are not changed.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:
the long-life cathode structure for electric propulsion comprises a heating wire, a cathode material component and a cathode connecting component; the cathode material component consists of a first section of cathode material, a second section of cathode material, a third section of cathode material and a cathode spray pipe main body which are coaxially connected; the first section of cathode material, the second section of cathode material, the third section of cathode material and the cathode spray pipe main body have the same material composition and are separated by a cathode connecting component; the cathode connecting component is made of material A 1 Material A 2 Material A 3 Composition; the first section of cathode material passes through material A 1 Is connected with a second section of cathode material, and the second section of cathode material passes through the material A 2 Connecting a third section of cathode material, which passes through the material A 3 Is connected with the cathode spray pipe main body. The heating wire is used for heating the cathode spray tube main body to the thermionic emission temperature, and enables the first section of cathode material, the second section of cathode material and the third section of cathode material to reach respective melting points.
The cathode air inlet pipe is fixedly connected to the front end of the inner cavity, the rear end of the inner cavity is connected with the spray pipe fixing seat through threads, and the spray pipe fixing seat is fixedly connected with the cathode spray pipe main body; the inner cavity, the spray pipe fixing seat and the cathode spray pipe main body are hollow structures and form a cathode air inlet channel together; the fixed ring piece and the outer cavity are fixedly nested outside the inner cavity; before starting the propeller, i.e. preheating stageThe section is used for electrifying the heating wire, the current in the heating wire generates joule heat, the cathode spray tube main body is heated to the thermionic emission temperature, at the moment, the cathode starts to emit thermions, if ionization occurs when the thermions collide with the propellant gas, the electron density continuously rises to a steady state, at the moment, the self-sustaining discharge state is reached, the power supply of the heating wire is removed, the anode power supply is started, and the electric field is utilized to maintain the generation of plasma; after working for the service life of the first stage cathode material, heating the heating wire to material A 1 Melting point T1 of material A 1 Dissolving, starting to consume the second section of cathode material, restarting calculating the service life of the cathode, and heating the heater to the material A until the second section of cathode material reaches the service life 2 Melting point T2 of material A 2 Dissolution begins to consume the third stage cathode material, extending the cathode life without changing the cathode material and without adding mechanical structure.
Further, the material A 1 Material A 2 Material A 3 The melting points of (2) respectively satisfy: cathode operating temperature<T1<T2<T3<Cathode melting point, T1 is material A 1 T2 is material A 2 T3 is material A 3 Is a melting point of (2); at the same time, material A 1 Material A 2 Material A 3 The electron emissivity of the material is lower than that of the cathode material component, the conductive performance is good, and the material has certain ablation resistance.
Further, the difference between the melting point values of the materials of the adjacent cathode connecting components is more than 50 ℃, and the condition of dissolving the next section of cathode material in advance is avoided by increasing the difference among T1, T2 and T3 in consideration of the temperature control precision range of the heating wire.
Further, the lengths of the cathode materials of each section meet the condition that before the service life of the cathode material of the previous section is finished, the cathode material of the next section is not damaged, so that the cathode material of the next section is prevented from participating in discharge in advance, the service life of the cathode material of the next section is shortened in advance, and the lengths of the cathode materials of each section are determined according to the radius, the materials, the aperture and the experimental results of the cathode.
Further, the melting point of the heating wire is higher than that of the material A 1 Material A 2 Material A 3 The melting points T1, T2 and T3500 ℃ of the cathode material are used to avoid the heating wire from fusing in advance or reaching the service life before the cathode material at the later stage starts to be used.
Further, a ceramic housing is included for ensuring insulation between the heater wire and the cathode material.
Further, the ceramic shell is used for avoiding heating of the propeller by the heating wire.
The invention has the beneficial effects that:
when the propeller works, the cathode nozzle is in an extremely high-temperature environment and is bombarded by a large number of high-energy particles, corrosion loss is very easy to occur, but the corrosion loss generally occurs at the front end part of the cathode, and the cathode is divided into a plurality of sections for use through a multi-section structure, so that the use effect of replacing a plurality of cathodes is achieved under the condition that the cathodes are not replaced.
The novel cathode structure provided by the invention can further greatly improve the effective service life of the cathode under the condition that the original materials are unchanged and the whole system is unchanged, and can improve the original service life of the cathode to a plurality of times at extremely low manufacturing cost, thereby ensuring that the equipment can effectively operate for a long time. The invention has important significance for wider application of electric propulsion technology.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a segmented cathode of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the overall system of a cathode including a segmented cathode of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the structure of the propeller of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a top view of the propeller;
fig. 1 reference numerals illustrate:
1. material A 1 2, material A 2 3, material A 3 4, a first section of cathode material, 5, a second section of cathode material, 6, a third section of cathode material, 7 and a cathode spray tube main body.
Fig. 2 reference numerals illustrate:
8. the spray pipe fixing seat, 9, an inner cavity, 10, an outer cavity, 11, a fixing ring piece, 12, a liquid inlet, 13, a liquid outlet, 14 and a cathode air inlet pipe.
The remaining reference numerals illustrate:
15. the device comprises a heating wire 16, a ceramic shell 21, an insulating pipe fitting 22, an anode body 23, a spiral heat exchange unit 24 and a multi-channel heat exchange unit.
Detailed Description
The invention will be further described with reference to the drawings and detailed description. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating and illustrating the invention, are not intended to limit the invention.
The invention provides a long-life cathode structure for electric propulsion, which comprises a cathode material component and a cathode connecting component which are coaxially connected.
As shown in fig. 1, the cathode material assembly is composed of a first section of cathode material 4, a second section of cathode material 5, a third section of cathode material 6 and a cathode nozzle main body 7, the above materials have the same composition, the materials are separated by a cathode connecting assembly, the first section of cathode material 4, the second section of cathode material 5, the third section of cathode material 6 and the cathode nozzle main body 7 are connected by adopting a friction welding mode through the cathode connecting assembly, and the composition is LaB 6 The method comprises the steps of carrying out a first treatment on the surface of the The cathode connecting component is made of material A 1 1. Material A 2 2. Material A 3 3 composition, material A 1 1. Material A 2 2. Material A 3 3 using different metal or alloy materials with melting point higher than the working temperature of the cathode. The first section of cathode material 4 is made of material a 1 1 is connected with a second section of cathode material 5, the second section of cathode material 5 is made of material A 2 2 is connected with a third section of cathode material 6, the third section of cathode material 6 is made of material A 3 3 are connected to the cathode nozzle body 7.
As shown in fig. 2, the whole long-life cathode structure for electric propulsion comprises a cathode air inlet pipe 14, a fixed ring piece 11, an inner cavity 9, an outer cavity 10, a nozzle fixing seat 8 and a cathode nozzle main body 7, wherein the cathode air inlet pipe 14 is fixedly connected with the front end of the inner cavity 9, the rear end of the inner cavity 9 is connected with the nozzle fixing seat 8 through threads, and the nozzle fixing seat 8 is fixedly connected with the cathode nozzle main body 7Connecting; the inner cavity 9, the spray pipe fixing seat 8 and the cathode spray pipe main body 7 are hollow structures and form a cathode air inlet channel together; the fixing ring 11 and the outer cavity 10 are fixedly nested outside the inner cavity 9. In the invention, a cathode spray pipe main body 7, a first section of cathode material 4, a second section of cathode material 5, a third section of cathode material 6 and a material A 1 1. Material A 2 2. Material A 3 And 3 are porous cathode spray pipes.
Specifically, the inner cavity 9 is welded and fixed with the cathode air inlet pipe 14, and is connected with the nozzle fixing seat 8 through threads, and the nozzle fixing seat 8 is fixed with the cathode nozzle main body 7 through high-temperature welding, so that the inner cavity 9 and the cathode air inlet pipe together form an air inlet channel of the magnetic plasma thruster porous cathode nozzle. When the propeller works, the propellant is introduced from the air inlet channel of the cathode spray tube, ionization is completed at the tip of the cathode to become plasma, and finally the plasma is accelerated by coupling of an electric field and a magnetic field.
As shown in fig. 3, an annular groove is provided in the ceramic housing 16, and the heating wire 15 is disposed inside the annular groove to prevent the heating wire 15 from heating the parts other than the cathode. Before the propeller starts, i.e. in the preheating stage, the heating wire 15 is electrified, the current in the heating wire 15 heats the cathode spray tube main body 7 to the thermionic emission temperature through generating joule heat, at the moment, the cathode starts to emit thermions, if the thermions collide with the propellant gas to generate ionization, the electron density continuously rises to a steady state, at the moment, the self-sustaining discharge state is entered, the power supply of the heating wire 15 can be removed, the anode power supply is started, and the electric field is utilized to maintain the plasma generation.
After the propeller works for a certain time, the electron emissivity of the first section of cathode material 4 is greatly reduced, the first section of cathode material 4 is difficult to be ignited again, at the moment, the first section of cathode material 4 is considered to be invalid, the temperature of the cathode is heated to T1 by the heating wire 15, and at the moment, the material A is 1 1 dissolve, starting to consume the second segment of cathode material 5, since it has not yet emitted electrons, has properties in all respects close to those of the new material, so it can almost be considered that its lifetime is restarted.
Also after the second stage cathode material 5 has been rendered ineffective, the cathode temperature is heated to T2 by the heater wire 15, at which point material A 2 2, dissolving the mixture into a solvent,the third segment of cathode material 6 begins to be consumed.
After the third stage cathode material 6 has been rendered ineffective, the cathode temperature is heated to T3 by means of the heater wire 15, at which time material A 3 3 dissolve and begin to consume the cathode nozzle body 7.
The cathode is consumed until the last stage, and the service life of the cathode is improved by almost 4 times without upgrading the material.
The propeller cathode ensures that the temperature is not too high when the propeller cathode works and runs through a cooling liquid channel reserved in the propeller cathode, and the reliability of the whole system is affected. The end of the outer cavity 10 far from the porous cathode spray tube is uniformly distributed with two liquid inlets 12 and liquid outlets 13 which are connected with the cooling liquid channels. During operation, cooling liquid enters from the liquid inlet 12, flows to the liquid outlet 13 at the upper part of the outer cavity 10 through the wall of the inner cavity, flows out from the liquid outlet, and takes away excessive heat generated by the cathode during operation of the propeller through heat exchange with the outer surface of the inner cavity 9, so that the stable operation of the propeller system is ensured.
The material A 1 Material A 2 Material A 3 The melting points of (2) respectively satisfy: cathode operating temperature<T1<T2<T3<Cathode melting point, T1 is material A 1 T2 is material A 2 T3 is material A 3 Is a melting point of (2); at the same time, material A 1 Material A 2 Material A 3 The electron emissivity of the material is lower than that of the cathode material component, the conductive performance is good, and the material has certain ablation resistance. As long as the melting point, the electron emissivity, the ablation resistance and the conductivity meet the above-described metal materials, the number of the sections of the long-life structure described by the invention can be changed according to the service life requirement of the propeller, and if more than 4 sections of cathode structures are needed, more materials of the cathode connection assembly are needed, so that no clear requirement is made for the three materials.
As shown in fig. 4, an insulating layer is provided between the insulating tube 21 and the propeller anode and the propeller cathode. The propeller anode comprises an anode body 22, a spiral heat exchange unit 23 and a multi-channel heat exchange unit 24.
The spiral heat exchange unit 23 has spiral channels, remarkably increases the flow path of cooling water, has better heat conduction capacity, and improves the heat exchange capacity of the anode.
Specifically, the front section of the cathode is divided into a plurality of sections of materials, each section uses materials with melting points between the working temperature of the cathode and the self melting point of the cathode, and from the front end, each intermediate material is named as a material A in sequence 1 1. Material A 2 2. Material A 3 3, the melting points of the two are respectively T 1 、T 2 、T 3 。
The melting points of the materials have the following relation:
cathode operating temperature<T 1 <T 2 <T 3 <Cathode melting point.
The novel cathode works as follows:
when the first section of cathode material is close to the service life, the temperature of the cathode is raised to T1 by increasing the working voltage, and then the material A 1 Will dissolve as the melting point is reached and begin to consume the second segment of cathode material.
When the second section of cathode material is close to the service life, the working voltage is continuously increased, the temperature of the cathode is increased to T2, and then the material A 2 Will dissolve as the melting point is reached and begin to consume the third segment of cathode material.
When the third section of cathode material is close to the service life, the working voltage is continuously increased, the temperature of the cathode is increased to T3, and then the material A 3 The dissolution due to the reaching of the melting point starts to consume the cathode nozzle body 7.
Because of the working characteristics of the cathode, the burnt parts are all positioned at the front end of the cathode, so the material A 1 1. Material A 2 2. Material A 3 3 before melting, the cathode material is almost in a brand new state, so that the service life of the cathode can be almost recalculated, and the service life of the cathode is improved by several times as much as the original service life.
Further, due to the mode of connecting the cathodes of each section by adopting a metal material, the problem of air tightness caused by using a mechanical structure to segment the cathodes is avoided.
Furthermore, as no mechanical structure is added, the original system can be completely used for separating the scrapped cathodes, and the later research and development cost is reduced.
Further, due to the simple structure and no mechanical hydraulic structure, the problem of liquid leakage is not required to be considered in the extreme environment of space.
Further, tungsten was used as the heating wire, and the melting point thereof was 3410 ℃.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that various other corresponding changes and modifications, such as increasing or decreasing the number of segments of the cathode and the length of each segment of the cathode, can be made in accordance with the above-described embodiments and concepts, and all such changes and modifications are intended to be within the scope of the claims herein.
Claims (8)
1. The long-life cathode structure for electric propulsion is characterized by comprising a heating wire, a cathode material component and a cathode connecting component; the cathode material component consists of a first section of cathode material, a second section of cathode material, a third section of cathode material and a cathode spray pipe main body which are coaxially connected; the first section of cathode material, the second section of cathode material, the third section of cathode material and the cathode spray pipe main body have the same material composition and are separated by a cathode connecting component; the cathode connecting component is made of material A 1 Material A 2 Material A 3 Composition; the first section of cathode material passes through material A 1 Is connected with a second section of cathode material, and the second section of cathode material passes through the material A 2 Connecting a third section of cathode material, which passes through the material A 3 A cathode nozzle body; the heating wire is used for heating the cathode spray tube main body to the thermionic emission temperature, and enables the first section of cathode material, the second section of cathode material and the third section of cathode material to reach respective melting points.
2. The long life cathode structure for electric propulsion of claim 1, further comprising a cathode inlet tube, a fixing ring, an inner cavity, an outer cavity and a nozzle fixing base, wherein the cathode inlet tube is fixedThe rear end of the inner cavity is connected with a spray pipe fixing seat through threads, and the spray pipe fixing seat is fixedly connected with the cathode spray pipe main body; the inner cavity, the spray pipe fixing seat and the cathode spray pipe main body are hollow structures and form a cathode air inlet channel together; the fixed ring piece and the outer cavity are fixedly nested outside the inner cavity; before the propeller is started, namely in a preheating stage, a heating wire is electrified, current in the heating wire heats a cathode spray tube main body to a thermionic emission temperature through generating Joule heat, at the moment, a cathode starts to emit thermions, if the thermions collide with propellant gas to generate ionization, the electron density continuously rises to a steady state, at the moment, a self-sustaining discharge state is reached, the power supply of the heating wire is removed, an anode power supply is started, and plasma generation is maintained by utilizing an electric field; after working for the service life of the first stage cathode material, heating the heating wire to material A 1 Melting point T1 of material A 1 Dissolving, starting to consume the second section of cathode material, restarting calculating the service life of the cathode, and heating the heater to the material A until the second section of cathode material reaches the service life 2 Melting point T2 of material A 2 Dissolution begins to consume the third stage cathode material, extending the cathode life without changing the cathode material and without adding mechanical structure.
3. A long life cathode structure for electric propulsion according to claim 1, wherein said material a 1 Material A 2 Material A 3 The melting points of (2) respectively satisfy: cathode operating temperature<T1<T2<T3<Cathode melting point, T1 is material A 1 T2 is material A 2 T3 is material A 3 Is a melting point of (2); at the same time, material A 1 Material A 2 Material A 3 The electron emissivity of the material is lower than that of the cathode material component, the conductive performance is good, and the material has certain ablation resistance.
4. A long life cathode structure for electric propulsion according to claim 3, wherein the difference between the melting point values of the materials of adjacent cathode connecting components is more than 50 ℃, and the condition of dissolving the next section of cathode material in advance is avoided by increasing the gap between T1, T2 and T3 in consideration of the accuracy range of temperature control of the heating wire.
5. A long life cathode structure for electric propulsion according to claim 1, wherein the length of each section of cathode material is such that the next section of cathode material is not damaged before the end of the life of the previous section of cathode material, thereby avoiding the next section of cathode material from participating in the discharge in advance, thereby shortening the life of the next section of cathode material in advance, and the length of each section of cathode material is determined according to the radius, material, pore diameter and experimental result of the cathode.
6. A long life cathode structure for electric propulsion according to claim 2, wherein said heater wire has a higher melting point than material a 1 Material A 2 Material A 3 The melting points T1, T2 and T3500 ℃ of the cathode material are used to avoid the heating wire from fusing in advance or reaching the service life before the cathode material at the later stage starts to be used.
7. The long life cathode structure for electric propulsion of claim 1, further comprising a ceramic housing for ensuring insulation between the heater wire and the cathode material.
8. A long life cathode structure for electric propulsion according to claim 1, wherein said ceramic housing is adapted to avoid heating of the propeller by the heater wire.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202310742160.2A CN116581010A (en) | 2023-06-21 | 2023-06-21 | Long-life cathode structure for electric propulsion |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202310742160.2A CN116581010A (en) | 2023-06-21 | 2023-06-21 | Long-life cathode structure for electric propulsion |
Publications (1)
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